What were you Most Surprised by in our Comparison? Let us know below! Buy a 2012 i7 MacBook Air Refurbished ➡ geni.us/A8FF NEW M2 MacBook Air ➡ geni.us/UlLRm5 TG Fan Pro Software: a.paddle.com/v2/click/114/29704?link=48
I am not at all surprised. In fact I salute the genius of Steve Jobs that the machine works and handles whatever is thrown at it even after 10 years, which is brilliant in itself. Once again a big salute to the genius of Steve Jobs.
The machine in 2012 was way ahead of its time, all thanks to the genius of Steve Jobs. And with due respect to Tim Cook, Apple continues to make the best products on the planet.
So basically, over 10 years time, Apple didn't see fit to upgrade the SSD from 256GB. We should refer to every laptop with 256GB (or smaller) SSDs as Chromebooks from now on.
That's one of my biggest gripes. My current laptop from 2013 has a 256GB SSD. It's fast enough for what I need it to do. The reasons to buy a new machine these days aren't very compelling.
RAM and SSD upgrades are such gold mines for Apple since users cant replace them on their own anymore. They're making soooo much money on upgrades, that's why they keep the base models still at 8 GB of RAM in 2022.
Honestly considering at that time disk drives were becoming extinct same with hard drives and with low power cpu so you don’t need much cooling, their really wasn’t holding any company back then from making something that slim Apple was just the one to do it so kudos
I was also going to say that for thermals. It's been a while since it was changed so it's likely dried up from being around for so long. That would also likely increase its speed
My mum was using this 2012 Macbook Air from the year it came out until only about 6 months ago, when I convinced her to FINALLY update to the M1 Macbook Air. She cannot get over what a difference it has made, and how she just put up with so many issues like insane lag, bad screen and poor speakers. The difference was just night and day. That said, the 2012 is still super impressive for when it came out, and the fact that it still worked *okay* after a decade in kind of amazing.
@@mmhcreates 2012s can run 10.15.7 Catalina, newer MS Office and Windows 10 in bootcamp/Parallels. I'll keep my mid 2012 13" MBP around to run some ham radio Windows programs that don't have Mac versions. 16GB Ram and a SSD made a big difference in performance.
i was very confused when my first MacBook ever - MacBook Air 2017 which I own - came to my house :) I looked for the source of nice audio on the aluminum body but than I realize that the keyboard is literally playing audio hehe
This is the first MacBook I ever owned and I have so many fond memories of that machine. Even though it wasn't as graphically powerful as other laptops at the time, it was a quality device, and honestly showed me how much Apple had moved on since the last time I had last used Apple extensively (I was used to the 1999 Mac OS 9 iMac that my dad had in his basement office & only briefly used some classroom iMacs while in college). Though looking back I am *SO* happy that Apple has finally moved to their own custom silicon over Intel integrated graphics, because even back then I realized just how sucky Iris was, which was the biggest knock against entry-level MacBooks for my uses pre M1. But the features it packed were great and since you're using this laptop 10 years later shows just how well built they were too. This was my *true* gateway into Apple as an adult along with my company issued iPhone and have enjoying their devices ever since!
As someone still using a 2012 MBA and on the fence of "Do I need an M1/M2 Macbook upgrade?", this video helped answer a lot of my questions and doubts. Thank you so much.
I traded my 2012 MacBook Air for the 14" MacBook Pro. I loved the old computer, but it could no longer run the current operating systems. The footprint of the MacBook Pro is actually smaller than the MacBook Air. The reason I opted for the MacBook Pro over the current MacBook Air is I got spoiled by all the ports on the old MacBook Air.
I have a 2012 MBA 8GB Ram, and I still plug it in and turn it on every couple months for a bit of an experiment and I'm always amazed how well it runs- still responsive and fast enough- battery is shot and runs down in a couple hours, but it's very useable. Totally nuts!
I still use a mid-2013 13" MBA as my daily laptop for work. It came with 8gb RAM, 256gb SSD and the upgraded i7 CPU. A few years back I upgraded the SSD to 1TB, and I've redone the thermal paste a couple of times. It's still going strong.
I am literally still using my 2012 MacBook Air with 4 gigs of ram to this day… but, I did order the new M2 this week to finally replace my old 2012. Love the old design. I will admit, the thick metal bezels grew on me. I wish there was a way to upgrade components in apple because I would have kept my MacBook 2012 shell. Quick thoughts, my 2012 did get to slow loading pages, not enough ram to keep up with todays massive programs, and camera/mic was pretty dated. I am a huge fan of the light up apple logo on the front.
Yup as I mentioned it has to be one for it like we showed in the screenshot. Just buy one of those for a great price and it will work no problem even the 2TB.
Thank you for this test. This is almost EXACTLY the comparison I wanted to see. Also, consider making it a standard: comparisons between 10 years difference from a "similar" machine.
I've had it for 10 years, and am OVER THE MOON to have upgraded to a 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro. Still use the old air for odd tasks, but a website can make it hang for hours
It's 2023 and I still use the same macbook air 2012 i7 8gb 256gb from the video and it still feels very fast for dayly usage. It will only get slow when it's almost out of free disk space. Apart for battery replament that I did twice (cheap on aliexpress) I never had an issue. Amazing machine! Buy and old one, replace the battery and you are good to go.
I am going to pick up a 2012 i7 8GB 11.6 inch MBA in an hour. Bought it for $100 as my travel laptop. I will upgrade to an OWC 480 GB SSD and then it should be snappy. Looking forward to many years with that sexy little thang
BUILT LIKE A TANK. Also, those thick metal bezels provide a lot of structural integrity, I’ve dropped my MacBook Air on the ground more times than I can recall. There are a few dents, but nothing catastrophic.
Not that the webcam and microphone quality of a computer would be the most decisive factor for anyone looking for a new laptop, but that 720p webcam on the 2012 MacBook Air? Puts most newer windows laptops to shame 👏🏻
That web cam does not put windows laptops to shame. As some one whos seen tons of laptop comparisons and reviews most windows laptops are similar if not slightly better. Web cams have barely improved since then and everyone was guilty of it. The only thing that Apple did was have a slightly better processing in later versions of MacOS
I've been using a MacBook 11" mid 2012 with identical specs to the one you tested (other than screen size and SSD size). I upgraded the SSD long ago to 1TB but otherwise it's basically the same machine I bought in 2012. I use it every day in my work (non-graphics-related but does require good enough graphics to see documents/spreadsheets clearly and quickly and to run a vmware virtual desktop for remote working). I run two Dell 32" curved gaming monitors off of this little miracle laptop. One is going into the thunderbolt port and the other is going into the USB port via an HDMI adapter. This thing is amazing; it's kept up with everything I've thrown at it task-wise, for over 10 years. I wrote and tested two OS apps on it that were placed on the Apple App Store (I'm a programmer when not doing my day job). Also, since the pandemic and remote work (March/2020 for me) I have used it as my full time work machine. I paid $1850 for this 11" wonder, so at about $185/yr, I feel I really got my money's worth. I remember worrying in 2012 -- would this be enough laptop for me. lol. The only fault it has now is that the fan does run constantly and the temperatures are starting to make the body warp somewhat. Also, work is requiring me to get a Mac compatible with the later operating systems (mine is topped out at OS 10.15.7 Catalina). So I'm now looking at an M2 to finally let the old girl rest. Thanks for your video.
I purchased a 2013 MacBook Air back then as a primary machine for my wife’s PhD work. We finally retired it last year when a friend gifted us a 2017 13” MacBook Pro he wasn’t using. But I’m still using the 2013 as a bedside web browsing and email machine.
I installed Ubuntu on my 2012 MacBook Air. Catalina was painfully slow in my old computer. Ubuntu 22.04 makes it snappy for light weight tasks like watching TH-cam videos and surfing the web using Google Chrome. Mine has an Intel Core i5 and 256 GB storage with only 4 GB Ram. Cheers
It’s so true! Back to 2013 I bought 5 base model MacBook air for my company and they all work quite good now: handling all kinds of office docs and making presentations, etc.
My Mid 13" 2012 MacBook Pro, Intel Core i7, 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD is still working great even with Office 2021, Adobe CC 2022 and even AutoCAD 2021 under Catalina. My new 14 inch MacBook Pro with 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD is arriving this Tuesday but I thing it has still juice enough in the years to come.
I’m still using my 2013 MacBook Air… nearly 10 year old and it has an SD slot and ports on both sides! I’ll still have to upgrade .. I didn’t even consider getting a newer Mac until now.. the original was too good to give up
I’m not surprised by how well the old MBA holds up. The 2011/2012 MBA with OS X Mountain Lion was lightning quick and super-easy to carry…one of my all-time favorites. I only parted with it when the MBP retina was released; even then, I missed the Air’s slimness and weight.
Still rocking an 11” Air 2012. Waiting for a new 11” or 12” to upgrade. Back in the day your Air was really for documents, web, text etc. light work. Today that you can edit video quite comfortably and use multimedia apps is a great bonus and really a modern expectation for a computer. But that’s how I use my Air - lightly. MBP for everything else.
I'm still using my MacBook Pro 2012 Retina 16GB as my main computer and it has worked 99% flawless for 10 years now. Also thus I own no USB-C deices so buying a new Mac with USB-C only would mean I would have to buy new Blackmagic converters and all kind of USB-C equipment.... so for now I'm saving my money. :)
Bought a MacBook air 2013 i7 8 gig last year with a new battery for 200$ and it's perfect for light tasks such as taking notes in school, writing documents, browsing the internet and watching videos. It lasts all day and I'm super happy with it
I think you will find the 2012 MacBook Air DOES NOT use an M.2 SSD. Quote from OWC website: "Although these drives are in the M.2 format, they are not standard M.2 SSD. All these drives have a proprietary pin out that makes them only compatible with the specified Apple Mac."
This test shows that the base version of MBA m2 is more than enough for basic users and students. This “problem” with ssd will not be notice by this type of user!
@@thewiirocks In my opinion is not correct that apple did a downgrade in ssd speed and don’t say anything. But for normal users and students MBA M2 have a lot of good new features that the M1 version doesn’t have. In fact, I am really satisfied with my base m2 macbook air space gray even more with the student discount that downs the price to $1100 + $150 gift card!
I have an older Intel Macbook Air and it felt good when it was new but now it suck's completely. I enjoy video editing and building some stuff in Blender and other things like that but it is just not really possible on that machine, it is basically just thermal throttling when i look at it, it can't handle powerpoints with some animations in it for school and watching some higher resolution videos on youtube is enough to ramp the fans up. I would like to upgrade but these things got so expensive.
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Put Artic MX-4 Thermal Paste on the CPU and Clone your stock SSD with CCC to an m.2 1TB Samsung Drive with 1GB cache.. You then can install the new SSD with an adapter internally and you'll have a brand new machine..
I still use an 7 year old iMac as my main computer. Runs everything I need, well. I do plan on upgrading this fall due to the new OS not supporting it and interest in moving into the apple silicon world. But I could also keep using this for years with no major complaints. In my experience over the years, Apple computers last longer than any PC.
In the 90s my computer difference between 1990 and 2000 was a computer over 200x faster. The last 10 years (2012 to 2022) have been quite disappointing for tech improvement, progress has been so much slower.
I wouldn't say thermal grizzly would be best as the MBA likely gets too hot for it and it would dry it out quickly. I've heard Honeywell does much better for laptops thanks to their higher thermals
@@crestofhonor2349 I used TG Kryonaut on an MSI core i9 laptop and several core i7 laptops.... and an air cooled core i9-9960X And 9900K.... oldest is 4 years of daily use and they are all still solid. But maybe you're right. Is TG Extreme rated for higher temps?
@@DBravo29er I believe it's more rated for desktop chips which typically run cooler thanks to it's larger cooling devices. It doesn't mean it can't improve laptop thermals if your stock thermal paste isn't that great
The M2 MacBook Air keyboard vibrates uncomfortably when music is played at 60% or more volume. Hey MaxTech - why hasn't anybody picked up on this issue? My MacBook Air 2015 has no vibration when sound is playing.
I still don’t understand why people love the illuminated Apple logo so much. Never was a fan personally and think the newer models look so much better.
The Display was bad already in 2012. An SD Card Slot seems to something magic from an Apple Fanboy POV - but is is just standard on ANY other device, starting from NETBOOKS in 2007, 300$ machines.
Woa, easy there. You'll need the *PRO* model for that feature! Unless it's been taken away, in which case Apple can re-introduce it next year as a selling point and claim they invented it or something. It's as ridiculous as fanboys crying you need the *PRO* model to do anything other than light web browsing or email despite having the same class of CPU, since it doesn't have any cooling, neither a fan nor a heatsink.
Everyone who complain about a missing glowing logo. Just dont realise that it would make the thin screen bend by applying a tiny bit of force. Eighter you want a glowing logo and a screen that breaks by closing the lid, or you get no glowing logo and a screen that will be ok. It is impossible to have it both ways.
Logically the new Air M2 is far better but I have to say that I am impressed about how good still run "basic office software". If you only need a computer for web browser, TH-cam, write your documents with pages/Word/Writer and this kind of stuff, probably you will have still some more years with this 2012 MacBook Air perfectly. Before buying my current Macbook I had an ASUS Laptop with 4Gb from 2012 and it was a pain on the neck since it was updated to Windows 10 for the most simply tasks.
Now that's a familiar looking little computer. I have the 2017 model of it, with 8 gb of RAM and 256 gb SSD. And it has been my daily workhorse till February this year when I bought a shiny new base model M1 MacBook Pro. It has served me very well all these years, and it is now running fulltime in the living room streaming music to my hi-fi and acting as a Roon Core. It's rock solid, ultra quiet and pretty quick. The only times in the past that I've heard its fan kick in was when I was trying to play some games on it. Like World of Warcraft and Starcraft. But for normal office work, listening to music or watching movies it remained cool and I often wondered if that thing had a fan at all. The same thing goes for my new M1 MacBook Pro. Even with playing games, I've yet to hear the fan altogether. Compared to my last years top of the line ASUS Windows gaming laptop where you'll hear the fan almost non stop. Apple sure has its thermals way better under control.
Max Tech why do you focus so much on benchmarks vs real world tests ? Been watching your channel for quite some time I do enjoy the content however wished it was more real world focus ? Anyway that's my input hope to hear from you Canadian guy here
I'm watching this on my 2012 Macbook Air. I have a Mac Studio at home for work but I was in love with this little laptop since the day I got it and I can still do so much with it - problem is when I'm blocked from installing apps because they're "not supported" like Microsoft apps to work with spreadsheets especially is bonkers. for 10 years I just felt like all the new laptops had taken away basic things like SD card reader, usb ports, the magsafe charger, they had weird keyboards, added a gimmicky touch bar on the pros, awkward notches... I wasn't seeing anything I liked until the last year. I got the Mac Studio since I don't mind still using this old laptop to do little things while I'm travelling (and I won't feel bad if something happens to it). I shit you not guys I can still do basic photography and 1080p video editing work in a pinch on this laptop, it just can't handle multitasking anymore and the display has also become washed out so it's not very accurate for colours (in the past I used a BenQ monitor with it). Mostly I do web design which is all in the browser and depends on internet speed. No one has ever complained that I don't look or sound good on zoom using this laptop. The other day I shot some photos with my Canon, imported it with the SD into the slot, opened it in Bridge, processed it in Camera Raw and exported it as JPEGS to share with friends and family in a very reasonable amount of time... but ironically it won't let me install Microsoft Office apps.
I have two teens in the house using 11-inch MacBook Air‘s from 2013 and 2014 for high school. I bought them a few years ago with no mods nor upgrades. Both Macs will need battery replacements soon though. These Macs with external monitors handle everything for school smoothly without spinning beach balls. My teens don’t even want to use the new student-issued ChromeBooks that their school provides for them. The shelf life of these computers are impressive.
Man that is a great point! Old Macbook airs better than new chromebooks lol. Mine already had the battery replaced, but crazy that you can get a new battery that is well rated for about $30 on Amazon amzn.to/3Q4qwGi
I have: 2009 IMac 2013 MacBook Air iPhone 15 iPhone 12 iPad 9th Gen iPad mini 6th Gen AirPod max AirPod Pro Apple Watch Series 6 2 IPods I want to update my MacBook and IMac to match the rest of my Apple products, but they are working just fine.
Great fun. I still use my i5 Macbook Air 2012 for web, text editing and simple coding. Best Macbook I ever owned. Oh, I did upgrade the ssd and battery once.
I was using my top-spec mid-2012 Air until 2021 when I upgraded to M1. I replaced the battery and updated the SSD about 2019 to get another couple of years out of it. So must have been good!
I hear ya. My wife used her Mid 2011 MacBook Pro until we upgraded to M1. Just changed the battery, maxed out the ram, and put an SSD when the hard drive crashed. Got to love Time Capsule. We didn’t loose anything. Machine still works great for an internet machine. And I still have the original box!!!
The comparison describes exactly my situation. I was still using 2012 MacBook Air until last week when I got my m2. If it is not because it could not install Xcode (as new OSX requirement not met) anymore I would not have decided to get a new one. Thinking back it has already worth more than what I have paid for a decade ago.
I have the last iteration of that Intel MacBook Air (with wide silver bezels), from 2017. It has more recent Intel processor and slightly better graphics. I used it for light duty, including iMovie, Pixelmator, and GarageBand. It was acceptable for my lower-end needs. I recently bought an M1 MacBook Pro 13-inch. It’s so much faster at the same tasks. One thing you didn’t compare in detail is battery life, the biggest improvement for me. The M1’s battery lasts “forever” on one charge. I use it completely disconnected most of the time, like when using my iPad. With every previous laptop I’ve used, it’s usually connected to power when in active use because the fan starts blowing and battery is drained in 1-2 hours. M1 can go for days before I see the 10% warning. Completely changed how I use my MacBook.
The base Apple models should really start with 16GB with 512 GB. For a premium product, it should have at least offer a modicum of premium basic specifications for what you pay for.
This vid hurt… I sold my mid 2012 MBA Ultimate to get my M1… software had forced an upgrade. But it was a beast!! I7 core duo 2.7GHZ. 512gb SSD AND 16gb Ram. $2200
The same test should be done with the first Retina MacBook Pro from 2012 as well being compared to the M1 Pro 16 Inch. That would be an interesting test to see.
I currently use a Macbook Air with the i5 and 4GB of ram. I replaced the thermal compound just a month ago, and it’s running very well. I can even do some high end gaming if I use cloud gaming. Meanwhile, my Samsung ultrabook from 2012 is not even booting, which just shows you how well made the Macbook really is.
I don't even know how.... But back in 2012 I ran Elder Scrolls Online on a 2012 Macbook Air with 4GB RAM and an i5. On top of that, it only had a 128GB SSD and the game wouldn't fit on it, so I ran the game from a USB flash drive. I think I got about 15 fps... Was just happy I could play it.
I have a mid 2011 air. After upgrading to the last recommended OS by Apple I was getting Gpu issues and system crashes. So I installed Zorin and my old Air is still snappy and working perfectly well. Only used for browsing and some office suite work so I plan to use all the way through the life of the device. Even battery is still surprisingly good throughout the years
Watching this on a mid '11 13 inch i5 1.7GHz 4GB Ram 128GB SSD. Only thing wrong with it is battery only last 2 hours. New battery less than $50. Why do i need an M2?
@@abulka I’ve wanted to attempt it but can’t find a source for the LPDDR3 chips needed for it. I think they usually used Hynix chips and I’ve seen some videos doing it. At least not the capacity I’d need,
Just bought an MacBook Pro 14" with the M1 Pro. My previous MacBook was a late 2012 MacBook Pro. It was surprisingly good and i managed to sold it for 200€ even tough i paid 1400€ ten years ago.
I have late 2012 Mabook Air at home (i5, GB Ram and 128GB SSD) and I work on it since 2013 until today. It has its flaws, like the magsafe charging port, which is actually destrying the carger time to time I have third one already) + I upgraded to batter to some aftermarket with even higher capacity than the original. Also, the famous display cable issue had to be solved, not to mention the display is actually the only thing which really made an evolutuion shift since than. Other than that, the laptop is still perfectly usable for any mundane work (web, mails, netfilx, music, light gaming, even with nVidia GeForce now - you can game whatever new you wish). It was really amazing product purchase, not to mention the original price back than, which utilized across all those years was insane. Looking forward to rotate into some new macbook this year, but it will be tough to get rif od the old one anyway.
Wow and Im still using my mid 2011 MBA after 2 battery replacements, MagSafe replacement..it still works...for browsing.... but maybe its finally time to upgrade :--)
The doubling of performance (Moore's law) is not something you can evaluate based on single core performance. Many years ago we hit the limit for significant performance jumps on single cores - which is why software and CPU design has shifted to multicore/multithreaded designs. Your results are not at all surprising.
Liked to seen an Xcode demo. Also, least with the mid-2012 macbook Pro you can cheaply upgrade RAM to 16 GB. Try that with the M2/M1. :) My Mid 2012 with 16 gb RAM is doing decent with Xcode 12.0.1 and web surfing at the same time. Running Catalina. I can't imagine buying a M1/M2 with less then 16 GB memory. Would seem like a step back, specially knowing that upgrades are no longer possible. IMHO, bad move for Apple users, but possible good for Apple as if you get the wrong one you have to buy an entire system to upgrade.
I have a 10 year old ACER that's still going strong but slow, compared to my Surface Pro 3 which is still pretty fast, for being 8 years old! ...in contrast, my much faster 2020 HP Spectre with the 4K screen just needed the screen replaced, in only 2 years! 😕 ...impressed by my M1 Macbook Air too!
I'm completely surprised by this video: I have a 2011 Macbook Air (with only an i5 and 4 GB of Ram so a lot worse than the one in the video) but this is representative of what I will get if I buy the new M2 Air :) Thanks a lot!
I have a late 2012 air with i5, 4GB ram and 256GB storage and to be fair it’s still decent for movies, browsing the web but I also have a powerful desktop and the difference is noticeable.
@@buzzlightyearoh mine has too many difficulties even in playing TH-cam videos at 720p on Safari, now in summer it is always warm with the fan working loud
I can’t believe how well that 2012 MacBook ran,of course it was slower then the MacBook Air 2022,but if you consider that a MacBook from 10 years ago can still keep up and be compared in this way,it’s actually crazy,Steve’s jobs designs were truly the best and very future proof. This is the most unique and craziest comparison-Thank you so much for such a great and entertaining content-I really appreciate your efforts and love all the videos you create-Keep it up!!.
@@sammyjammy6647 Yes that is true the M1 has caused another leap again,but will they be able to withstand the test of time like this MacBook from the Steve jobs era is yet to be seen-Though it is likely.
@@RaghavVijay Yes that will be the true test to see what the longevity of the first M1’s will be compared to the Intels. I have the M1 MacBook Pro 13 inch and I don’t have any plans to change it out until it dies
I have a 2017 MacBook Air and the speakers are way better than that i think maybe its because your listening on a 2012 apple improved their speakers in the newer models
Apple didn't move from SATA SSDs to NVME-oF SSDs until 2014/2015 depending on the model. I had a 11 inch 2012 Macbook Air and I thought it was great. But little did we know how terrible it actually was LOL.
You want something scary, I just ran Geekbench 5 on my 11" MacBook Air 2011 model (the previous year) Single core 245, Multi core 244. It came with USB 2.0, Core i5 2467M processor and only 4GB RAM, the SSD is an Apple proprietary model so upgrading was expensive. Yet it was my go-to Mac until the lockdown when I found the webcam wasn't working.
I assume the cooler at the Intel Macbook had a bad connection to the die. It makes no sense that the fin stack at the end of the heatpipe is below 40°C, while the core cooks with 105°C.
Currently using a 2011 13" MacBook Pro as a BlueBubbles server. Still reasonable performance for something that old. Runs about as well as my X330 and T430. I have to disagree hard about the keyboards, though. I like the 2011's keyboard much better than the ones on the new Macs. The new MacBooks feel like I'm typing on a flat surface while the old MacBook one feels nearly as good as my ThinkPad's.
What were you Most Surprised by in our Comparison? Let us know below!
Buy a 2012 i7 MacBook Air Refurbished ➡ geni.us/A8FF
NEW M2 MacBook Air ➡ geni.us/UlLRm5
TG Fan Pro Software: a.paddle.com/v2/click/114/29704?link=48
Hello
I am not at all surprised. In fact I salute the genius of Steve Jobs that the machine works and handles whatever is thrown at it even after 10 years, which is brilliant in itself. Once again a big salute to the genius of Steve Jobs.
This was a fun comparison! The graphics part was expected but the actual difference was a surprise.
The machine in 2012 was way ahead of its time, all thanks to the genius of Steve Jobs. And with due respect to Tim Cook, Apple continues to make the best products on the planet.
I was very surprised that the MacBook Air I am still using (for my piano sampling libraries) is being compared with M2 MacBook 😄
So basically, over 10 years time, Apple didn't see fit to upgrade the SSD from 256GB. We should refer to every laptop with 256GB (or smaller) SSDs as Chromebooks from now on.
That's one of my biggest gripes. My current laptop from 2013 has a 256GB SSD. It's fast enough for what I need it to do. The reasons to buy a new machine these days aren't very compelling.
RAM and SSD upgrades are such gold mines for Apple since users cant replace them on their own anymore. They're making soooo much money on upgrades, that's why they keep the base models still at 8 GB of RAM in 2022.
8GB RAM + 256GB SSD is perfectly fine for an entry level, $500 laptop. Especially those with upgradable RAM and SSD.
For $1000+, just no
The base model at the time was actually 128gb
@@MattExzy Who say nowadays pc are not compelling? Nice joke of this year
That 2012 MacBook Air was so ahead of its time still! So thin and sleek for a 10yo computer
It was and it is a such a pity they held on to it until it was so out of date that it became a joke
But the display is a bastard
Honestly considering at that time disk drives were becoming extinct same with hard drives and with low power cpu so you don’t need much cooling, their really wasn’t holding any company back then from making something that slim Apple was just the one to do it so kudos
And yet, people still complained about it when it first came out… Funny reading the comments of today.
My friend, design is stage of technology...
re-pasting the 2012 might help a bit. I repaired my 2011 MBP recently, and the thermal paste was dried up like chalk.
I was also going to say that for thermals. It's been a while since it was changed so it's likely dried up from being around for so long. That would also likely increase its speed
The paste they apply in the factory is higher quality than what you applied. It's meant to last forever. You probably made it worse.
My mum was using this 2012 Macbook Air from the year it came out until only about 6 months ago, when I convinced her to FINALLY update to the M1 Macbook Air. She cannot get over what a difference it has made, and how she just put up with so many issues like insane lag, bad screen and poor speakers. The difference was just night and day. That said, the 2012 is still super impressive for when it came out, and the fact that it still worked *okay* after a decade in kind of amazing.
it’s better to update apps to the latest edition, or do the clean installation.
@@yenjun0204 can't update most apps to latest version, on a 2012 machine.
@@mmhcreates 2012s can run 10.15.7 Catalina, newer MS Office and Windows 10 in bootcamp/Parallels. I'll keep my mid 2012 13" MBP around to run some ham radio Windows programs that don't have Mac versions. 16GB Ram and a SSD made a big difference in performance.
@Bzake I have a base 14" M1 pro MBP. I also have 5 other Macs in use for different things.
i can agree, the old systems where sooo much better. downgrade if you ask me.
8 years of using and owning a 2012 macbook air and I never knew the sound came out from the keyboard lol
i was very confused when my first MacBook ever - MacBook Air 2017 which I own - came to my house :) I looked for the source of nice audio on the aluminum body but than I realize that the keyboard is literally playing audio hehe
This is the first MacBook I ever owned and I have so many fond memories of that machine. Even though it wasn't as graphically powerful as other laptops at the time, it was a quality device, and honestly showed me how much Apple had moved on since the last time I had last used Apple extensively (I was used to the 1999 Mac OS 9 iMac that my dad had in his basement office & only briefly used some classroom iMacs while in college). Though looking back I am *SO* happy that Apple has finally moved to their own custom silicon over Intel integrated graphics, because even back then I realized just how sucky Iris was, which was the biggest knock against entry-level MacBooks for my uses pre M1. But the features it packed were great and since you're using this laptop 10 years later shows just how well built they were too. This was my *true* gateway into Apple as an adult along with my company issued iPhone and have enjoying their devices ever since!
SAME
As someone still using a 2012 MBA and on the fence of "Do I need an M1/M2 Macbook upgrade?", this video helped answer a lot of my questions and doubts. Thank you so much.
Did you decide to update?
I traded my 2012 MacBook Air for the 14" MacBook Pro. I loved the old computer, but it could no longer run the current operating systems. The footprint of the MacBook Pro is actually smaller than the MacBook Air. The reason I opted for the MacBook Pro over the current MacBook Air is I got spoiled by all the ports on the old MacBook Air.
I have a 2012 MBA 8GB Ram, and I still plug it in and turn it on every couple months for a bit of an experiment and I'm always amazed how well it runs- still responsive and fast enough- battery is shot and runs down in a couple hours, but it's very useable. Totally nuts!
My daily driver is old MacBook Pro 2014 i7 16gb ram. Still running good better than any Windows laptop - I hope:)
im using it rn
I still use a mid-2013 13" MBA as my daily laptop for work. It came with 8gb RAM, 256gb SSD and the upgraded i7 CPU. A few years back I upgraded the SSD to 1TB, and I've redone the thermal paste a couple of times. It's still going strong.
still using mine too, but i just ordered the new m2
I am literally still using my 2012 MacBook Air with 4 gigs of ram to this day… but, I did order the new M2 this week to finally replace my old 2012. Love the old design. I will admit, the thick metal bezels grew on me. I wish there was a way to upgrade components in apple because I would have kept my MacBook 2012 shell.
Quick thoughts, my 2012 did get to slow loading pages, not enough ram to keep up with todays massive programs, and camera/mic was pretty dated. I am a huge fan of the light up apple logo on the front.
If you really like the old design, why not go with the 2020 M1?
10 years after, that sounds legit. I am still not there, so not buying new M2-based ones.
@@adambushman2928 ye that makes sense
I'm sure you could have gotten someone to solder 8gb ram on it,.
Why not the m1?
4:08 it is NOT a standard M.2! The data transfer standard is the same but in order to use regular M.2 SSD here you need adapter + supported SSD
You can put any Nvme Gen 3 Ssd with adapter
Yup as I mentioned it has to be one for it like we showed in the screenshot. Just buy one of those for a great price and it will work no problem even the 2TB.
@@MaxTechOfficial Hey Man Can you Plz Tell Me Where to purchase Apple Watch batteries I want series 1 38mm battery ( I Am From India)
@@summirsatija might be hard to find a series 1 since its so old
@@visual1683 :(
You should have compared the new one with the 2009 first Macbook Air. The 2012 model is actually pretty good.
Thank you for this test. This is almost EXACTLY the comparison I wanted to see.
Also, consider making it a standard: comparisons between 10 years difference from a "similar" machine.
I've had it for 10 years, and am OVER THE MOON to have upgraded to a 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro. Still use the old air for odd tasks, but a website can make it hang for hours
It's 2023 and I still use the same macbook air 2012 i7 8gb 256gb from the video and it still feels very fast for dayly usage. It will only get slow when it's almost out of free disk space. Apart for battery replament that I did twice (cheap on aliexpress) I never had an issue. Amazing machine! Buy and old one, replace the battery and you are good to go.
I am going to pick up a 2012 i7 8GB 11.6 inch MBA in an hour. Bought it for $100 as my travel laptop. I will upgrade to an OWC 480 GB SSD and then it should be snappy. Looking forward to many years with that sexy little thang
@@stefangrell6916 yeah, you will get a lot for the money
BUILT LIKE A TANK. Also, those thick metal bezels provide a lot of structural integrity, I’ve dropped my MacBook Air on the ground more times than I can recall. There are a few dents, but nothing catastrophic.
Assuming he has the Apple Care +, he should have did a drop test.
I put my 2011mba on top of my car. forgot about it. Backed up, it slid off onto the concrete. Barely dented the machine.
Not that the webcam and microphone quality of a computer would be the most decisive factor for anyone looking for a new laptop, but that 720p webcam on the 2012 MacBook Air? Puts most newer windows laptops to shame 👏🏻
That web cam does not put windows laptops to shame. As some one whos seen tons of laptop comparisons and reviews most windows laptops are similar if not slightly better. Web cams have barely improved since then and everyone was guilty of it. The only thing that Apple did was have a slightly better processing in later versions of MacOS
I've been using a MacBook 11" mid 2012 with identical specs to the one you tested (other than screen size and SSD size). I upgraded the SSD long ago to 1TB but otherwise it's basically the same machine I bought in 2012. I use it every day in my work (non-graphics-related but does require good enough graphics to see documents/spreadsheets clearly and quickly and to run a vmware virtual desktop for remote working). I run two Dell 32" curved gaming monitors off of this little miracle laptop. One is going into the thunderbolt port and the other is going into the USB port via an HDMI adapter. This thing is amazing; it's kept up with everything I've thrown at it task-wise, for over 10 years. I wrote and tested two OS apps on it that were placed on the Apple App Store (I'm a programmer when not doing my day job). Also, since the pandemic and remote work (March/2020 for me) I have used it as my full time work machine. I paid $1850 for this 11" wonder, so at about $185/yr, I feel I really got my money's worth. I remember worrying in 2012 -- would this be enough laptop for me. lol. The only fault it has now is that the fan does run constantly and the temperatures are starting to make the body warp somewhat. Also, work is requiring me to get a Mac compatible with the later operating systems (mine is topped out at OS 10.15.7 Catalina). So I'm now looking at an M2 to finally let the old girl rest. Thanks for your video.
I purchased a 2013 MacBook Air back then as a primary machine for my wife’s PhD work. We finally retired it last year when a friend gifted us a 2017 13” MacBook Pro he wasn’t using. But I’m still using the 2013 as a bedside web browsing and email machine.
I installed Ubuntu on my 2012 MacBook Air. Catalina was painfully slow in my old computer. Ubuntu 22.04 makes it snappy for light weight tasks like watching TH-cam videos and surfing the web using Google Chrome. Mine has an Intel Core i5 and 256 GB storage with only 4 GB Ram. Cheers
I don't like how the old MacBook exceeds my computer in every way except the storage volume...
It’s so true! Back to 2013 I bought 5 base model MacBook air for my company and they all work quite good now: handling all kinds of office docs and making presentations, etc.
I have the same model, still works great
I have a 2009 macbook at home that still works perfect for browsing the internet (only had to buy a new battery a few years ago)
*2012 A1286 (non retina) Matt Screen* the best upgradeable Macbook ever.
My Mid 13" 2012 MacBook Pro, Intel Core i7, 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD is still working great even with Office 2021, Adobe CC 2022 and even AutoCAD 2021 under Catalina. My new 14 inch MacBook Pro with 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD is arriving this Tuesday but I thing it has still juice enough in the years to come.
I’m still using my 2013 MacBook Air… nearly 10 year old and it has an SD slot and ports on both sides! I’ll still have to upgrade .. I didn’t even consider getting a newer Mac until now.. the original was too good to give up
I’m not surprised by how well the old MBA holds up. The 2011/2012 MBA with OS X Mountain Lion was lightning quick and super-easy to carry…one of my all-time favorites. I only parted with it when the MBP retina was released; even then, I missed the Air’s slimness and weight.
The one Steve jobs pulled out from that envelope isn’t the same one as your 2012 air, they are different designs.
Yeah the 1st gen and 2nd gen MacBook Air.
Still rocking an 11” Air 2012. Waiting for a new 11” or 12” to upgrade. Back in the day your Air was really for documents, web, text etc. light work. Today that you can edit video quite comfortably and use multimedia apps is a great bonus and really a modern expectation for a computer. But that’s how I use my Air - lightly. MBP for everything else.
I'm still using my MacBook Pro 2012 Retina 16GB as my main computer and it has worked 99% flawless for 10 years now. Also thus I own no USB-C deices so buying a new Mac with USB-C only would mean I would have to buy new Blackmagic converters and all kind of USB-C equipment.... so for now I'm saving my money. :)
Bought a MacBook air 2013 i7 8 gig last year with a new battery for 200$ and it's perfect for light tasks such as taking notes in school, writing documents, browsing the internet and watching videos. It lasts all day and I'm super happy with it
I once had a 2012 macbook air 11" and it was probably one of best laptops I've ever owned :)
I think you will find the 2012 MacBook Air DOES NOT use an M.2 SSD. Quote from OWC website: "Although these drives are in the M.2 format, they are not standard M.2 SSD. All these drives have a proprietary pin out that makes them only compatible with the specified Apple Mac."
the fact that the MBA still costs a three digit amount of money after ten years tells you that it must be still usable, and that alone speaks volumes
This test shows that the base version of MBA m2 is more than enough for basic users and students. This “problem” with ssd will not be notice by this type of user!
While I do believe the consumer should be informed of the difference, it really is a drop from Ludicrous Mode to “only” Stupidly Fast.
@@thewiirocks In my opinion is not correct that apple did a downgrade in ssd speed and don’t say anything. But for normal users and students MBA M2 have a lot of good new features that the M1 version doesn’t have. In fact, I am really satisfied with my base m2 macbook air space gray even more with the student discount that downs the price to $1100 + $150 gift card!
I have an older Intel Macbook Air and it felt good when it was new but now it suck's completely. I enjoy video editing and building some stuff in Blender and other things like that but it is just not really possible on that machine, it is basically just thermal throttling when i look at it, it can't handle powerpoints with some animations in it for school and watching some higher resolution videos on youtube is enough to ramp the fans up. I would like to upgrade but these things got so expensive.
Put Artic MX-4 Thermal Paste on the CPU and Clone your stock SSD with CCC to an m.2 1TB Samsung Drive with 1GB cache.. You then can install the new SSD with an adapter internally and you'll have a brand new machine..
Old macs are usually a better investment than any pc
I still use an 7 year old iMac as my main computer. Runs everything I need, well. I do plan on upgrading this fall due to the new OS not supporting it and interest in moving into the apple silicon world. But I could also keep using this for years with no major complaints. In my experience over the years, Apple computers last longer than any PC.
I have the 2012 MBA too! Planning on upgrading this year to a M1 Pro 16" MBP :p I have the 13" 2 GHz/8GB / 512GB.
ONE MILLION SUBS. Congrats on the milestone. I remember watching when you had 250k-400k it's always nice to see channels grow
In the 90s my computer difference between 1990 and 2000 was a computer over 200x faster. The last 10 years (2012 to 2022) have been quite disappointing for tech improvement, progress has been so much slower.
This is modern compared with my 2011 macbook pro that I just replaced last month. I did 4k videos and all with it. Incredible machines.
Specs are not everything, having the control of every single component of your machine has huge advantages
Did he say the MacBook Air 2012 has a smaller fan than the new MacBook Air?
The thermal paste on the 2012 is GONE. Wonder what it would do with some thermal grizzly Kryonaut on there?
I wouldn't say thermal grizzly would be best as the MBA likely gets too hot for it and it would dry it out quickly. I've heard Honeywell does much better for laptops thanks to their higher thermals
@@crestofhonor2349 I used TG Kryonaut on an MSI core i9 laptop and several core i7 laptops.... and an air cooled core i9-9960X And 9900K.... oldest is 4 years of daily use and they are all still solid. But maybe you're right. Is TG Extreme rated for higher temps?
@@DBravo29er I believe it's more rated for desktop chips which typically run cooler thanks to it's larger cooling devices. It doesn't mean it can't improve laptop thermals if your stock thermal paste isn't that great
The M2 MacBook Air keyboard vibrates uncomfortably when music is played at 60% or more volume. Hey MaxTech - why hasn't anybody picked up on this issue? My MacBook Air 2015 has no vibration when sound is playing.
I still don’t understand why people love the illuminated Apple logo so much. Never was a fan personally and think the newer models look so much better.
Could you compare the MacBook Pro mid 2012 with the M2 air please?
The Display was bad already in 2012.
An SD Card Slot seems to something magic from an Apple Fanboy POV - but is is just standard on ANY other device, starting from NETBOOKS in 2007, 300$ machines.
Woa, easy there. You'll need the *PRO* model for that feature! Unless it's been taken away, in which case Apple can re-introduce it next year as a selling point and claim they invented it or something. It's as ridiculous as fanboys crying you need the *PRO* model to do anything other than light web browsing or email despite having the same class of CPU, since it doesn't have any cooling, neither a fan nor a heatsink.
@@MattExzy this exactly the sentiment apple fanboys have about the battery percentage being added back in ios16 like cmon man
Everyone who complain about a missing glowing logo. Just dont realise that it would make the thin screen bend by applying a tiny bit of force. Eighter you want a glowing logo and a screen that breaks by closing the lid, or you get no glowing logo and a screen that will be ok. It is impossible to have it both ways.
Logically the new Air M2 is far better but I have to say that I am impressed about how good still run "basic office software". If you only need a computer for web browser, TH-cam, write your documents with pages/Word/Writer and this kind of stuff, probably you will have still some more years with this 2012 MacBook Air perfectly.
Before buying my current Macbook I had an ASUS Laptop with 4Gb from 2012 and it was a pain on the neck since it was updated to Windows 10 for the most simply tasks.
Now that's a familiar looking little computer. I have the 2017 model of it, with 8 gb of RAM and 256 gb SSD. And it has been my daily workhorse till February this year when I bought a shiny new base model M1 MacBook Pro. It has served me very well all these years, and it is now running fulltime in the living room streaming music to my hi-fi and acting as a Roon Core.
It's rock solid, ultra quiet and pretty quick. The only times in the past that I've heard its fan kick in was when I was trying to play some games on it. Like World of Warcraft and Starcraft. But for normal office work, listening to music or watching movies it remained cool and I often wondered if that thing had a fan at all. The same thing goes for my new M1 MacBook Pro. Even with playing games, I've yet to hear the fan altogether.
Compared to my last years top of the line ASUS Windows gaming laptop where you'll hear the fan almost non stop. Apple sure has its thermals way better under control.
Max Tech why do you focus so much on benchmarks vs real world tests ? Been watching your channel for quite some time I do enjoy the content however wished it was more real world focus ? Anyway that's my input hope to hear from you Canadian guy here
I'm watching this on my 2012 Macbook Air. I have a Mac Studio at home for work but I was in love with this little laptop since the day I got it and I can still do so much with it - problem is when I'm blocked from installing apps because they're "not supported" like Microsoft apps to work with spreadsheets especially is bonkers.
for 10 years I just felt like all the new laptops had taken away basic things like SD card reader, usb ports, the magsafe charger, they had weird keyboards, added a gimmicky touch bar on the pros, awkward notches... I wasn't seeing anything I liked until the last year. I got the Mac Studio since I don't mind still using this old laptop to do little things while I'm travelling (and I won't feel bad if something happens to it). I shit you not guys I can still do basic photography and 1080p video editing work in a pinch on this laptop, it just can't handle multitasking anymore and the display has also become washed out so it's not very accurate for colours (in the past I used a BenQ monitor with it). Mostly I do web design which is all in the browser and depends on internet speed. No one has ever complained that I don't look or sound good on zoom using this laptop.
The other day I shot some photos with my Canon, imported it with the SD into the slot, opened it in Bridge, processed it in Camera Raw and exported it as JPEGS to share with friends and family in a very reasonable amount of time... but ironically it won't let me install Microsoft Office apps.
I just gave a friend a 2013 MBA in perfect condition. He uses it for daily activities and it performs like a champ.
I have two teens in the house using 11-inch MacBook Air‘s from 2013 and 2014 for high school. I bought them a few years ago with no mods nor upgrades. Both Macs will need battery replacements soon though. These Macs with external monitors handle everything for school smoothly without spinning beach balls. My teens don’t even want to use the new student-issued ChromeBooks that their school provides for them. The shelf life of these computers are impressive.
Man that is a great point! Old Macbook airs better than new chromebooks lol. Mine already had the battery replaced, but crazy that you can get a new battery that is well rated for about $30 on Amazon amzn.to/3Q4qwGi
I have:
2009 IMac
2013 MacBook Air
iPhone 15
iPhone 12
iPad 9th Gen
iPad mini 6th Gen
AirPod max
AirPod Pro
Apple Watch Series 6
2 IPods
I want to update my MacBook and IMac to match the rest of my Apple products, but they are working just fine.
Yesterday I switched exactly from 2012 Air to M2 Air. I used old Air for 11 years and it was amazing. I hope this M2 will last the same to me.
I would go with the 2012 Mac air so you could downgrade your macOS and it still looks kind of modern.
Great fun. I still use my i5 Macbook Air 2012 for web, text editing and simple coding. Best Macbook I ever owned. Oh, I did upgrade the ssd and battery once.
I was using my top-spec mid-2012 Air until 2021 when I upgraded to M1. I replaced the battery and updated the SSD about 2019 to get another couple of years out of it. So must have been good!
I hear ya. My wife used her Mid 2011 MacBook Pro until we upgraded to M1. Just changed the battery, maxed out the ram, and put an SSD when the hard drive crashed. Got to love Time Capsule. We didn’t loose anything. Machine still works great for an internet machine. And I still have the original box!!!
The comparison describes exactly my situation. I was still using 2012 MacBook Air until last week when I got my m2. If it is not because it could not install Xcode (as new OSX requirement not met) anymore I would not have decided to get a new one. Thinking back it has already worth more than what I have paid for a decade ago.
We love technology that can put on milage! Save that air for your children :)
@@absbi0000 spot on. That’s what I did. Now he is using it for roblox.
Ever heard of opencore legacy patcher? Couldve saved a couple bucks lmao
You should be editing HD video on that old MacBook not 4K video. It would be interesting to see how it handles 720P or 1080P video in Final Cut.
I have the last iteration of that Intel MacBook Air (with wide silver bezels), from 2017. It has more recent Intel processor and slightly better graphics. I used it for light duty, including iMovie, Pixelmator, and GarageBand. It was acceptable for my lower-end needs. I recently bought an M1 MacBook Pro 13-inch. It’s so much faster at the same tasks. One thing you didn’t compare in detail is battery life, the biggest improvement for me. The M1’s battery lasts “forever” on one charge. I use it completely disconnected most of the time, like when using my iPad. With every previous laptop I’ve used, it’s usually connected to power when in active use because the fan starts blowing and battery is drained in 1-2 hours. M1 can go for days before I see the 10% warning. Completely changed how I use my MacBook.
I can only go about half a day because I edit videos but half a day unplugged editing videos is absurd, my windows laptop was 1.5hrs
I currently have the 2015 MacBook Air... Lemme just say, I never would've thought that I'd end up loving the MacBook Air lineup more-so than the Pro.
I’m still using a 2012 MBP. Speakers don’t sound great, battery life has dropped off, can’t update to newer OSS…. But it still works great! Very fast.
I got my battery replaced and my baby feels like new.
I’m still working on my mid2012 MacBook Pro. Upgraded the memory and Ram last year - and it’s going strong.z
The base Apple models should really start with 16GB with 512 GB. For a premium product, it should have at least offer a modicum of premium basic specifications for what you pay for.
My late 2011 MBP still ticking along. Wifey uses it for web browsing. I've since upgraded to a 2022 14 inch MBP.
This vid hurt… I sold my mid 2012 MBA Ultimate to get my M1… software had forced an upgrade. But it was a beast!! I7 core duo 2.7GHZ. 512gb SSD AND 16gb Ram. $2200
One of the very best tests you've ever performed! Mahalo!
The same test should be done with the first Retina MacBook Pro from 2012 as well being compared to the M1 Pro 16 Inch. That would be an interesting test to see.
I currently have the 2012 MacBook 💻 & it still works for me!
I currently use a Macbook Air with the i5 and 4GB of ram. I replaced the thermal compound just a month ago, and it’s running very well. I can even do some high end gaming if I use cloud gaming. Meanwhile, my Samsung ultrabook from 2012 is not even booting, which just shows you how well made the Macbook really is.
I don't even know how.... But back in 2012 I ran Elder Scrolls Online on a 2012 Macbook Air with 4GB RAM and an i5. On top of that, it only had a 128GB SSD and the game wouldn't fit on it, so I ran the game from a USB flash drive. I think I got about 15 fps... Was just happy I could play it.
I have a mid 2011 air. After upgrading to the last recommended OS by Apple I was getting Gpu issues and system crashes. So I installed Zorin and my old Air is still snappy and working perfectly well. Only used for browsing and some office suite work so I plan to use all the way through the life of the device. Even battery is still surprisingly good throughout the years
Watching this on a mid '11 13 inch i5 1.7GHz 4GB Ram 128GB SSD. Only thing wrong with it is battery only last 2 hours. New battery less than $50. Why do i need an M2?
My brother still uses his 2012 air for simple tasks. It works crazy fine.
I’ve seen some great mods to the 2015 MacBook Air taking it up to 16gb of ram with hot air soldering and a bit of hex editing.
I might have a go at this - would appreciate any links.
@@abulka I’ve wanted to attempt it but can’t find a source for the LPDDR3 chips needed for it. I think they usually used Hynix chips and I’ve seen some videos doing it. At least not the capacity I’d need,
Just bought an MacBook Pro 14" with the M1 Pro. My previous MacBook was a late 2012 MacBook Pro. It was surprisingly good and i managed to sold it for 200€ even tough i paid 1400€ ten years ago.
I have late 2012 Mabook Air at home (i5, GB Ram and 128GB SSD) and I work on it since 2013 until today. It has its flaws, like the magsafe charging port, which is actually destrying the carger time to time I have third one already) + I upgraded to batter to some aftermarket with even higher capacity than the original. Also, the famous display cable issue had to be solved, not to mention the display is actually the only thing which really made an evolutuion shift since than. Other than that, the laptop is still perfectly usable for any mundane work (web, mails, netfilx, music, light gaming, even with nVidia GeForce now - you can game whatever new you wish). It was really amazing product purchase, not to mention the original price back than, which utilized across all those years was insane. Looking forward to rotate into some new macbook this year, but it will be tough to get rif od the old one anyway.
Be prepared to be ripped off by apple when you upgrade to the new m1/m2.
But hey, where's the competition?
Wow and Im still using my mid 2011 MBA after 2 battery replacements, MagSafe replacement..it still works...for browsing.... but maybe its finally time to upgrade :--)
The 2012 MaBook Air had Turbo Boost of 3.2 GHz. That would explain the 3 GHz figure you saw.
I bet it would get to 3.2ghz if the thermal paste were replaced.
watching this from a mid 2012 MacBook Air, still rocking to this day and I use it for school projects and light photo editing primarly :D
The doubling of performance (Moore's law) is not something you can evaluate based on single core performance. Many years ago we hit the limit for significant performance jumps on single cores - which is why software and CPU design has shifted to multicore/multithreaded designs. Your results are not at all surprising.
Great video, again! My wife is overdue to upgrade from her 2010 MacBook Air 💻 Still hanging in there, battery doesn’t last long though.
Liked to seen an Xcode demo. Also, least with the mid-2012 macbook Pro you can cheaply upgrade RAM to 16 GB. Try that with the M2/M1. :)
My Mid 2012 with 16 gb RAM is doing decent with Xcode 12.0.1 and web surfing at the same time. Running Catalina.
I can't imagine buying a M1/M2 with less then 16 GB memory. Would seem like a step back, specially knowing that upgrades are no longer possible. IMHO, bad move for Apple users, but possible good for Apple as if you get the wrong one you have to buy an entire system to upgrade.
I have a 10 year old ACER that's still going strong but slow, compared to my Surface Pro 3 which is still pretty fast, for being 8 years old! ...in contrast, my much faster 2020 HP Spectre with the 4K screen just needed the screen replaced, in only 2 years! 😕 ...impressed by my M1 Macbook Air too!
I'm completely surprised by this video: I have a 2011 Macbook Air (with only an i5 and 4 GB of Ram so a lot worse than the one in the video) but this is representative of what I will get if I buy the new M2 Air :)
Thanks a lot!
I have a late 2012 air with i5, 4GB ram and 256GB storage and to be fair it’s still decent for movies, browsing the web but I also have a powerful desktop and the difference is noticeable.
@@buzzlightyearoh mine has too many difficulties even in playing TH-cam videos at 720p on Safari, now in summer it is always warm with the fan working loud
I still use my 2015 MBA, i7 processor and 8gb RAM, AND 256gb HD
I can’t believe how well that 2012 MacBook ran,of course it was slower then the MacBook Air 2022,but if you consider that a MacBook from 10 years ago can still keep up and be compared in this way,it’s actually crazy,Steve’s jobs designs were truly the best and very future proof.
This is the most unique and craziest comparison-Thank you so much for such a great and entertaining content-I really appreciate your efforts and love all the videos you create-Keep it up!!.
But just remember it was the first M1’s that came out in late 2020 that was the true quantum leap of anything that came out the last 2 decades
@@sammyjammy6647 Yes that is true the M1 has caused another leap again,but will they be able to withstand the test of time like this MacBook from the Steve jobs era is yet to be seen-Though it is likely.
@@RaghavVijay Yes that will be the true test to see what the longevity of the first M1’s will be compared to the Intels. I have the M1 MacBook Pro 13 inch and I don’t have any plans to change it out until it dies
@@sammyjammy6647 nice,you are lucky,I am still stuck on windows with intel,hopefully I can get a M series MacBook one day.
All the people buying decade-old MacBook Pro’s for $200 are getting ridiculous values. These computers last a long time and still feel modern.
And plenty old laptops from around the same time work just as well assuming you have an SSD. This doesn't just apply to the MBA here
I have a 2017 MacBook Air and the speakers are way better than that i think maybe its because your listening on a 2012 apple improved their speakers in the newer models
More reviews about old Macs!
Apple didn't move from SATA SSDs to NVME-oF SSDs until 2014/2015 depending on the model. I had a 11 inch 2012 Macbook Air and I thought it was great. But little did we know how terrible it actually was LOL.
You want something scary, I just ran Geekbench 5 on my 11" MacBook Air 2011 model (the previous year) Single core 245, Multi core 244. It came with USB 2.0, Core i5 2467M processor and only 4GB RAM, the SSD is an Apple proprietary model so upgrading was expensive. Yet it was my go-to Mac until the lockdown when I found the webcam wasn't working.
I assume the cooler at the Intel Macbook had a bad connection to the die. It makes no sense that the fin stack at the end of the heatpipe is below 40°C, while the core cooks with 105°C.
Currently using a 2011 13" MacBook Pro as a BlueBubbles server. Still reasonable performance for something that old. Runs about as well as my X330 and T430. I have to disagree hard about the keyboards, though. I like the 2011's keyboard much better than the ones on the new Macs. The new MacBooks feel like I'm typing on a flat surface while the old MacBook one feels nearly as good as my ThinkPad's.